Tags

I updated my
lab VIOS to the latest fix pack ( V2.2.2.1 )
this week and thought I’d try the new VIOS part command. This new command is an improved version of the existing vios_advisor tool. The major difference
between the two is the fact that the new tool is now included with VIOS code
and will be updated via new VIOS fix packs. The following link has some
information on using the command: http://pic.dhe.ibm.com/infocenter/powersys/v3r1m5/index.jsp?topic=/p7hcg/part.htm This new
tool “Provides performance reports with
suggestions... [More]

Starting with AIX 6.1 TL08 and AIX 7.1
TL02 there’s a new AIX CPU tuning feature called “ Scaled Throughput ” mode. This is supported on POWER7 and POWER7+ processors
only ( do not try this on POWER6!). This
new mode has the ability to dispatch workload to more SMT threads per VP,
avoiding the need to unfold additional VPs. I’ve heard it described as being more
“POWER6 like”. I’m not suggesting that you use this feature. This post simply
discusses what this new mode can do. By default AIX (on POWER7) operates in “ Raw Throughput” mode.... [More]

In a previous post I discussed how you can identify some of the different types of a PowerVM Capacity
on Demand (CoD) activation keys from IBM. Recently I had to Activate Memory Expansion (AME) on a
couple of POWER7 systems. I discovered that all of the keys contained a similar
string. It appears that if a CoD key contains the string CA1F0000000800 then it is safe to assume it will activate
AME for a particular system. e.g. 9741EF3AE6969F17 CA1F0000000800 419D 937A1240F00F5B05 CA1F0000000800 413D And while I’m talking about AME,... [More]

Here are some questions I received recently regarding VLAN
tagging on the VIO server. My answers are shown in green . “Hi Chris, Q: I’m trying to
understand when, where and why there would be the need to use ‘mkvdev –vlan
(etc.) on the VIOS, and I’m wondering whether you would be able to clarify this
for me, please. Is it necessary to add
the VLAN tag devices to the SEA, or is it suffice to just have them defined
within the Virtual Ethernet itself which is part of the SEA?” A:
It is suffice to simply define the VLAN ids assigned... [More]

A colleague of mine contacted me during the week to ask how one could
determine if a POWER7 system was capable of Active Memory Expansion. I thought
I'd share my response with everyone who follows my blog. You can check if the system is capable of providing Active Memory
Expansion (AME), from the HMC command line using the lssyscfg command, as shown here: hscroot@hmc1:~>
lssyscfg -r sys -m Server-8233-E8B-SN1000 -F active_mem_expansion_capable 1 Alternatively you can view the capabilities of
the managed system from the HMC GUI,... [More]